Day 23 – Santa
Monica/Venice Beach to Laguna Beach – Or Bust.
Scratch That. To Dana Point or
Bust
On this, the penultimate day of the journey, I met with a
little frustration but you got to go with the flow out here so I’m working through it. The first plan was to ride to Laguna Beach
and get a hotel (remember, I said I was staying out of the campgrounds a couple
blogs ago). I got there in pretty good
time, 1pm. I spent about an hour trying
to get a deal on a hotel room. In Laguna
Beach a deal is relative. If the going rate is $300-$400 bucks, you should be
happy you can find a room for $200.
Obviously, I was not. Plan B; Back to camping. Dana Point is the
closest southern campground. I shouldn’t
have been in any hurry, though. Seems
the folks running the campground are all about rules; check in is at 4pm so I’m
blogging my time away.
As for today’s ride:
It was fairly pleasant but hot and the wind was not cooperating like it
did yesterday. 27 miles of the ride was
through the Los Angeles urban area. The
guide-book says it is as challenging as the hills and, in fact it, has this leg
marked as “difficult”. I consulted the
book for the route but ended up going with Google and it did a fair job of
getting me through the city. And, if you
like traffic, terminals, refineries, and that creepy feeling you maybe
shouldn’t be on this route, you might have enjoyed this portion of the ride. Starting with the end of Long Beach the ride
all the way through Newport Beach (a nice city) was quite pleasant, although it
felt like I was riding in the Sahara as that the bike path was literally on the
beach for miles and miles. Past NB and
into Laguna Beach it became challenging as the road narrowed and drivers were
in a hurry (as I was warned by two lady triathletes). 60+ miles to LB and tack on about nine to
Dana Point and we can say we booked 69 miles for the day. Only 30 or so to Carlsbad and my sister’s house
(did hear that, Joanne? I will be in
early tomorrow ;-)
Here are links to today’s rides:
Photos
On way down to eat and peak at Venice Beach (a peak is all I needed), I saw a couple of parrots in the palm trees. Trust me, they're up there.
I ordered a slice of pepperoni pizza. They must have thought I wanted the pepperoni on the side ;-)
Venice Beach
Venice Beach
I took a short walk through this bar. I went in the one door and out the other.
Nope, not my campfire (had none). From Lori and the kids in Seaside.
Another nice sunset in Seaside, OR (Lori is keeping me updated on her travels)
Part of the route out of LA. This part was actually pretty nice. Lot's of bike path.
More beach! See? I told you would be back...if there was a bike path and here it is!
The not so creepy sections (I didn't slow down and pull out the iPhone in those parts)
Nice oil storage tanks
Refinery
The "river"
More bike path (I really shouldn't say anything bad about LA. It was a really good route out)
The Catalina Express
The Queen Mary (I think. I recall it being in Long Beach. If you want fact checking you need to subscribe to a blog that has tourists writing it)
Volleyball championship in Long Beach
No comments:
Post a Comment